Slashdot | Michigan May Outlaw Anonymity Online
http://slashdot.org/yro/01/02/11/1829225.shtml -- ____________________________________________________________________ Before a larger group can see the virtue of an idea, a smaller group must first understand it. "Stranger Suns" George Zebrowski The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage@ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------
On Sun, 11 Feb 2001, Jim Choate wrote:
There are times when I wish I had enough money to hire the lawyers it would take to initiate a false advertising suit against the United States for billing itself as a "Free country". For a country that bills itself as a champion of Freedom and Liberty(tm) throughout the world, they sure seem to enact alot of laws treating freedom as something that should be stamped out wherever it is found. Kind of like Government laws on privacy. Privacy from everyone but the Government. alan@ctrl-alt-del.com | Note to AOL users: for a quick shortcut to reply Alan Olsen | to my mail, just hit the ctrl, alt and del keys. "In the future, everything will have its 15 minutes of blame."
At 06:48 PM 2/11/01 -0800, Alan Olsen wrote:
http://slashdot.org/yro/01/02/11/1829225.shtml There are times when I wish I had enough money to hire the lawyers it would take to initiate a false advertising suit against the United States for billing itself as a "Free country".
Remember that this isn't a law - it's a proposal by one cop. In a free country, you always expect at least one cop or politician to have some offensive or wacko idea that makes the press - the real questions are how far can he run with it, does his electorate throw him out on his ear next election, can he convince the legislature to act on his proposal, and do the courts throw the law out if it gets made. With the label "Child Pornography" attached to the proposal, any legislators who understand it and want to block it have to walk carefully, but the old "refer it to the committee on whatever and let it get boring things attached to it and studies done until everybody lets it die" trick is usually safe, especially if it can get reviewed by the committee's counsel in the light of existing court cases like McIntyre. Thanks! Bill Bill Stewart, bill.stewart@pobox.com PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF 3C85 B884 0ABE 4639
On Mon, Feb 12, 2001 at 01:04:47PM -0800, Bill Stewart wrote:
until everybody lets it die" trick is usually safe, especially if it can get reviewed by the committee's counsel in the light of existing court cases like McIntyre.
Righto. A closer case, with less precedential value but closer on the facts, would be the district court's ruling in the Georgia Internet-anonymity lawsuit brought by the ACLU. See, probably, www.well.com/~declan/nym -Declan
Mr. Choate said: " http://slashdot.org/yro/01/02/11/1829225.shtml ." ~ First, I like to think the 1st Amendment includes the right to _receive_ anonymously, as well as send/publish -- which implicates anonymous digital cash. Second, sounds like _Lamont_, but it's content-neutral on its face. In _Lamont_ the postal tried to make people "sign up" in order to receive communist propaganda. Not surprisingly, people hesitated.... LAMONT @ http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=381 &page=301. They will argue the statute is content-neutral, aimed at secondary effects, and withstands intermediate scrutiny.... RENTON @ http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=475 &page=41 Regarding ID requirements and ID as "content".... MILLER @ http://www.aclu.org/court/aclugavmiller.html MCINTYRE @ http://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/free_speech/mcintyre.txt If they can't get in the constitutional front door, there's always the back. <epiphany>... that would be why "cypherpunks write code;" what Mr. Back was trying to impart to me. Ah. aimee.farr@pobox.com Aimee E. Farr, Esq. Law Office Of Aimee E. Farr 5400 Bosque, Suite 675 Waco, Texas 76710-4418 office: 254.751.0030 fax: 254.751.0963
On Mon, 12 Feb 2001, Aimee Farr wrote:
First, I like to think the 1st Amendment includes the right to _receive_ anonymously, as well as send/publish -- which implicates anonymous digital cash.
This seems to hinge on two points. The first being that 'speech/print' is equivalent in some sense to 'read/hear'. The second being the non-enumeracy clause of the 9th. Clearly being able to speek/publish is worthless unless the audience has free and unhindered access. Note as an aside this conflicts with aspects of IP as currently practiced. Another aspect that isn't clearly covered IMO is the role of 'consent' in anonymous communications. After all we are talking about a right, the right to make the choice based on personal beliefs. That clearly has to also protect those people who don't want to receive material anonymously. After all, your rights extend only until they interfere with anothers. ____________________________________________________________________ Before a larger group can see the virtue of an idea, a smaller group must first understand it. "Stranger Suns" George Zebrowski The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage@ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------
participants (6)
-
Aimee Farr -
Alan Olsen -
Bill Stewart -
Declan McCullagh -
Jim Choate -
Jim Choate